1.1 Genes identified by cloning Genes should be named after the mammalian orthologue whenever possible. When mammalian orthologues are known, the same name and abbreviation should be used, except all letters are italicized and lower case. Members of a gene family are sequentially numbered.

1.4 Genes identified only by genomic sequencing projects Large-scale genome sequencing projects use a variety of prediction methods to identify both open reading frames and genes. Some of these genes are already known, while others are new. Novel genes identified by these means often cannot be identified and are assigned a name comprised of a prefix, a clone name, and an integer. The prefix is used to specify the research institution that identified the gene (e.g., "si" for the Sanger Institute). A colon separates the prefix from the clone identifier. In many cases, there are multiple predicted reading frames in a single clone. These genes are distinguished with a full stop (period) between the clone name and an integer. Integers are assigned to genes in the clone as they are identified and do not indicate the order of genes. If part of a gene is found in more than one clone, the name of the first clone in which the 5' portion of the gene is found takes precedence.